biological approach Flashcards
limitation:the reliance on just-so stories
E:A ‘just-so’ story is a speculative explanation of unprovable validity that is put forward to account for the origin of something when there is no verifiable explanation is known.
E:some critics have argued that explaining human behaviours as having evolved through natural selection is arguably “just so” stories.there is no way of testing the claims as evolution occurred thousands of years ago. this would mean that evolutionary explanations of behaviours are not falsifiable and therefore not scientific.
L:therefore the scientific credibility of explanations of human behaviour in terms if evolution is debatable.
limitation:engages in biological determinism
E:researchers within the biological approach explain human behaviour as being controlled by aspects of biology.
E:this may be problematic to behaviourists as it offers a deterministic account of behaviour in which the mind is like a blank slate. this ignores the fundamental role of environment and how it plays a role in determining human b behaviour. One argument for why this is problematic is presented by believers in free will. Their challenge is that this approach implies that forces outside of conscious control determine behaviour (e.g., no one consciously controls their genes). This undermines the fundamental belief, held by many in society, that people have the free will to consciously choose how to act.
